Heart of Gold

Chapter Five - Arriving

"Get going."

The harsh growl echoed slightly through Sunny's head, courtesy of the translator - apparently there was one language she was to understand - and she struggled to hasten her pace, gritting her teeth as the faster movements only served to dig even further into her skin. Sunny could feel Kilnor notice, as his grip on her wrist tightened slightly.

"I'm fine," she said softly, hoping to reassure him. His grip relaxed, only to tighten as pain lanced across her thigh. Sunny bit back a cry as lights flashed briefly in her vision. Every muscle in her thigh cramped, and the leg gave out from underneath her. Strong hands caught her before she hit the ground, and a torrent of Miotalan spewed forth from Kilnor.

"Ta bron," he whispered, his breath hot against her skin, "Ta mor bron."
The pain had just began to ease when Sunny was dragged out of Kilnor's arms, the rough

movement scraping her back along his still-manacled hands.

Harsh hands pulled her upright, directing her gaze to where Kilnor was similarly held - an arm on each bicep, only the handcuffs in the middle stopping them from wrenching his arms further apart. But whereas Sunny was sure she looked defeated, small and cowed in her captivity - Kilnor was the opposite, every inch of him going off the impression of barely leashed power. His face was a mask of anger, molten metal eyes boring holes through Sunny's captors.

"You will stop, or I will cut him," the words came through the translator, horribly emphasised by the dagger they had pressed up against Kilnor's inner elbow.

Sunny nodded, clenching her jaw to stop the tears she felt welling up inside of her from falling.
She met Kilnor's eyes briefly, and his expression gentled. His lip twitched, silently telling her she had done the right thing. She smiled weakly back, and then jerked as the Olcen's shoved her back into line, roughly marching them closer to the slave market.

They heard it before they saw it. Sunny supposed the chant of auctioneer was yet another thing not confined to Earth, and the sound almost caused her to tense up - only the memory of what happened before allowing her to keep moving.

***

The sound was overwhelming. Kilnor tried to block it out, keeping his eyes focused on Sunny. A small trickle of red dripped from her right ankle cuff, and Kilnor forced his gaze elsewhere. Lingering on Sunny's hurts would only serve to anger him, and he didn't need anger clouding his reason when escape may be imminent.

Instead, he turned his mind to the situation. All things considered - it could be worse. He had been to this planet and city before, and could form a vague layout of the area in his mind.

They'd be taken to the Slave Inspector first, where they would be poked, prodded, measured and weighed in order to get their stats for the auction. Then, they'd been assigned an auction, and taken to the corresponding stalls where they would wait.

That was the detail on which Kilnor's mind stuck. He didn't think they'd be placed in the same stalls, which created a whole host of problems. He wouldn't be able to tell Sunny of any plan he may come up with, and it necessitated another step on any plan - after getting himself out of his stall, he'd have to find and retrieve Sunny.